This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9B project to build the Barclays Center arena and 15-16 towers at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake going forward. As of 2018, after the arena and four towers were built, Greenland will own 95% of future construction.

Bait and switch? Another look at the 50/50 affordable housing promise

Has Forest City Ratner broken its pledge to ensure that half the units of housing at the Atlantic Yards site would be affordable? The record says yes--unless you accept the most lawyerly of explanations.

At right, an excerpt from a 2004 flier sent to thousands of Brooklynites, which stated that half of the units in the project would be affordable.(Lawyerly alternative explanation: Half of the 4500 mentioned units would be affordable. You never know if more would be added.)

The Housing MOU announcement

On 5/17/05, the Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by FCR and ACORN, which advocates for low-income and working-class people.

At a press conference two days later, a press release stated:Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Forest City Ratner Companies President & CEO Bruce C. Ratner and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) Executive Director Bertha Lewis today announced that approximately half of the 4,500 new rental units in the proposed Atlantic Yards development will be set aside for low- and moderate-income households using financing tools created by the Bloomberg Administration's New Housing Marketplace plan.(Emphasis added.)

Note that the press release cited the new rental units rather than the entire residential project. (Lawyerly alternative explanation: That leaves room for non-rental units to not be part of the 50/50 plan.)

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, in his own press statement, did not qualify it by limiting his analysis to the rental units. He cited "a commitment to build a full 50 percent of Atlantic Yards housing as affordable -- more than 2,000 apartments."

A look at the document

The text of the MOU itself refers to the Residential Project as 4500 units of housing, and states that the parties agree to developing half of the Residential Project as affordable. It does not say that they agreed to develop half of the Residential Rental Project as affordable. In fact, it talks about a projected number of 4500 units, which suggests that the same ratio would apply to a different projected number. (Lawyerly alternative explanation: Well, condos we added later aren't residential. Oops, maybe they are.)

At another place in the document it states that the parties are committed to developing half of the 4500 rental units as affordable. (Lawyerly alternative explanation: That leaves room for non-rental units to not be part of the 50/50 plan.)

Loophole alert

Another clause hinted at changes: If the projected number of residential units should increase for any reason that the Developer determines to be economically necessary, both the Developer and ACORN will work towards developing a program that follows the same guidelines and principles set forth in this document.

So that means a goal of 50/50. (Lawyerly alternative explanation: All it says is "work towards.") Note Jim Stuckey's conditional language at the affordable housing information session last month: “We will be working on putting [it] together.”

All in the plan

A week after the MOU press conference, on 5/26/05, Forest City Ratner announced changes in the plan at a City Council hearing, proposing either an addition of 1500 market-rate condos while maintaining the same amount of office space, or reducing the office space and planning for 2800 condos.

When the Empire State Development Corporation in mid-September released its Draft Scope of Analysis, the numbers were set: 4500 rentals and 2800 condos. On March 31 of this year, Forest City Ratner shaved back its plan, cutting 440 condos, for a total of 2360.

Affordable condos

As noted in Paragraph 5 of the MOU, if the number of units in the project should increase "for any reason that the Developer determines to be economically necessary," the developer and ACORN would try to follow the 50/50 program.

However, as the excerpt at right indicates, Forest City Ratner has agreed to build 600 to 1000 affordable for-sale units, not 2360 units. And that agreement is not part of documents released by the Empire State Development Corporation. The General Project Plan states:The Project would also create between approximately 5,790 and 6,860 affordable and market-rate housing units, with fifty percent of all rental units being affordable to low- and middle-income families, resulting in approximately 2,250 of such affordable units,

Bertha Lewis's explanations

New York ACORN head Bertha Lewis has persistently declared that the 50/50 plan is still in place. In the fall 2005 issue of the Brooklyn Standard, she cited the "50-50 balance for affordable housing, one of our proudest and greatest accomplishments as an organization."

At a forum on the housing plan last February 28, Lewis declared that the whole project would be 50/50. As I wrote:“If this project passes [state review], it’s 50/50 baby,” she told a group of reporters pressing her after a panel last night. “The MOU says 50/50 period.”

What the Times said

An article in the Times last November offered a somewhat charitable interpretation of the changes in the plan:The agreement signed last May between Mr. Ratner and Ms. Lewis applied only to the 4,500 rental units envisioned in the original plan. But it included a provision that if the developer added more residential units, the firm would develop 600 to 1,000 moderately priced for-sale units on or near the project site, in effect offering something close to a 50-50 ratio for all the housing associated with the project.At the time, officials of Forest City Ratner said they were already contemplating adding 1,500 condominium units, in part because community leaders had pushed Mr. Ratner to include more housing in the project. That would have given the project 6,000 units of housing. But during a City Council presentation in May, Mr. Stuckey said the developer was contemplating adding an extra 1,300 for-sale units, bringing the total to 7,300 units.

However, community leaders were surely not pushing for more market-rate condos.

Bait and switch?

The Times let FCR offer a lawyerly interpretation of the MOU:Forest City Ratner officials said that they had remained faithful to the Acorn agreement, which did not require that half of the new for-sale units be priced affordably. But if the developer chooses to build the maximum of 1,000 moderately priced for-sale units described in the Acorn agreement and builds them off-site, then the total number of for-sale and rental units associated with the project would reach 8,300, of which 3,250 would be priced below market rates -- about 40 percent.

And Lewis told the newspaper that the 50/50 goal was attainable:Ms. Lewis said that Acorn remained a strong supporter of the project and of the agreement with Forest City Ratner. But she said she was negotiating with the company, and with the government agencies that help subsidize housing, to help make a greater proportion of the for-sale apartments available below market prices.''We know that when we get through this thing, half of all the housing is going to be affordable -- half of the rental, half of everything else,'' she said. ''We haven't gotten down to the last part of this. But our whole principle is 50-50.''

However, boosters of the project, including Lewis, have justified the "extreme density" because of the inclusion of affordable housing. The only way to equalize the ratios would be to continue to downsize the project--or to promise even more offsite affordable for-sale units.

ACORN's obligatory support

As the excerpt from the MOU at right shows, it's ACORN's obligation to publicly support the plan. That's not unusual in Community Benefits Agreements, but this agreement requires support only if the affordable housing project continues, as described in Paragraph 1. But that's the paragraph that says that half of the Residential Project--without qualification--would contain affordable housing.

But Lewis wrote in City Limits this week:Under our agreement with Forest City Ratner, 50 percent of the 4,500 rental units in the project will be affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income families.

Why doesn't she blow the whistle? Maybe because, as she wrote in that City Limits article, her goal is "fighting like hell every day to get the best deal you can."

Getting ACORN on board

The Times article explained why office space was traded for luxury housing:Officials of Forest City Ratner said they eventually realized that they would have to reduce the amount of commercial space, to accommodate condominium units that would help pay for the project, including the below-market rental housing.

As I pointed out, the explanation is disingenuous. Just a week after the Housing MOU was signed, Forest City Ratner announced plans to increase the amount of housing by at least 1500 units.

The evidence suggests that Forest City Ratner had the condo plan in the cards for a while, but wanted ACORN on board first.

And now history is rewritten. As it states on the Atlantic Yards web site:FCRC Commitment: 50% of Rental Units to be Affordable

While that's part of the lawsuit, more prominent are claims of racial discrimination and retaliation, with black employees claiming repeated abuse by white supervisors, preferential treatment toward Hispanic colleagues, and retaliation in response to complaints.

Two individual supervisors, for example, are charged with referring to black employees as “black motherfucker,” “dumb black bitch,” “black monkey,” “piece of shit” and “nigger.”

Two have referred to an employee blind in one eye as “cyclops,” and “the one-eyed guy,” and an employee with a nose disorder as “the nose guy.”

There's been no official response yet though arena spokesman Barry Baum told the Daily News they, but take “allegations of this kind very seriously” and have "a zero tolerance policy for…

To supporters of Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, it's a long-awaited plan for long-overlooked land. "The Atlantic Yards area has been available for any developer in America for over 100 years,” declared Borough President Marty Markowitz at a 5/26/05 City Council hearing.

Charles Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, mused on 11/15/05 to WNYC's Brian Lehrer, “Isn’t it interesting that these railyards have sat for decades and decades and decades, and no one has done a thing about them.” Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco, in a 12/19/04 New York Times article ("In a War of Words, One Has the Power to Wound") described the railyards as "an empty scar dividing the community."

But why exactly has the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard never been developed? Do public officials have some responsibility?

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Community Update meeting June 14, held at 55 Hanson Place, addressed multiple issues, including delays in the project, a new detente with project neighbors,concerns about traffic congestion, upcoming sewer work and demolitions, and an explanation of how high winds caused debris to fly off the under-construction 38 Sixth Avenue building. I'll have more coverage.
Security issues came up several times at the meeting.
Wayne Bailey, a resident who regularly takes photos and videos (that I often use) of construction/operations issues that impact residents, asked representatives of Tishman Construction if the security guard at the sites they're building works for them.
After Tishman Senior VP Eric Reid said yes, Bailey asked why a guard told him not to shoot video of the site, even though he was on a public street.

"I will address it with principals for that security firm," Reid said.
Forest City Ratner executive Ashley Cotton, the …

This graphic, posted in February 2018, is post-dated to stay at the top of the blog. It will be updated as announced configurations change and buildings launch. Note the unbuilt B1 and the proposed--but not yet approved--shift in bulk to the unbuilt Site 5.

The August 2014 tentative configurations proposed by developer Greenland Forest City Partners will change. The project is already well behind that tentative timetable.

How many people are expected?

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has a projected 6,430 apartments housing 2.1 persons per unit (as per Chapter 4 of the 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement), which would mean 13,503 new residents, with 1,890 among them in low-income affordable rentals, and 2,835 in moderate- and middle-income affordable rentals.

That leaves 8,778 people in market-rate rentals and condos, though let's call it 8,358 after subtracting 420 who may live in 200 promised below-market condos. So that's 5,145 in below-market units, though many of them won…

There are obituary notices in the Bowling Green Daily News and the Wichita Eagle, which state:
He was born in Wichita, KS where he attended public Schools and Wichita State University. He lived for many years in Brooklyn, NY, and was employed as a legal assistant. David's hobby was cartography and had an avid interest in Mass Transit Systems of the world. David was predeceased by his father, Kenneth E. Sheets. He is survived by his mother, Wilma Smith, step-brother, Billy Ray Smith and his wife, Jane all of Bowling Green; step-sister, Ellen Smith Alexander and her husband, Jerry of Bella Vista, AR; several cousins and step-nieces and step-nephews also survive. Memorial Services will be on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 1:00 pm with visitation from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday at Johnson-Vaughn-Phe…

Notably, a lease valued at $40 million "upfront to lease up to 43 acres over 49 years... seems like a good deal on rent for the state-controlled property." Also, the Long Island Rail Road will expand service to Belmont.

That indicates public support for an arena widely described as "privately financed," but how much? We don't know yet, but some more details--or at least questions--have emerged.

An Aqueduct comparable?

Well, we don't know what the other bid was, and there aren't exactly parcels that large offering direct comparables.

But consider: Genting New York LLC in September 2010 was granted a franchise to operate a video lottery terminal under a 30 year lease on 67 acres at Aqueduct Park (as noted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo).

At right is a photo of a poster spotted in Hasidic Williamsburg right. Clearly there's an event scheduled at the Barclays Center aimed at the Haredi Jewish community (strict Orthodox Jews who reject secular culture), but the lack of English text makes it cryptic.

The website Matzav.com explains, Protest Against Israeli Draft of Bnei Yeshiva Rescheduled for Barclays Center:
A large asifa to protest the drafting of bnei yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel into the Israeli army that had been set to take place this month will instead be held on Sunday, 17 Sivan/June 11, at the Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn, NY.
So attendees at a big gathering will protest an apparent change of policy that will make it much more difficult for traditional Orthodox Jewish students--both Hasidic (who follow a rebbe) and non-Hasidic (who don't)--to get deferments from the draft. Comments on the Yeshiva World website explain some of the debate.